Our bodies are the source of discourse: Foucault had it backwards Richard Koenigsberg Koenigsberg Foucault Foucault had it backwards. It is not so much that discourse shapes the body. Rather, the body, the experience of our body and our fantasies about the body shape discourse. The body politic” is not simply a metaphor. This term expresses the fact that we relate to nations as if they are bodies. Our experience of our own bodies is the source of our experience of national bodies. Because nations are experienced in corporeal terms--as a projection of our bodies--we seek to secure their borders: orifices and entry points must be sealed. Infiltration and penetration must be prevented. The experience of one’s nation with insecure or porous boundaries is equivalent to the fear that one’s own body has insecure or porous borders--and can be easily penetrated.